My Top 5 Drinking Games (That Require No Preparation)

I’m a massive fan of games. Such a fan, in fact, that I was awarded the nickname “Mi-Let’s play a game” (and it stuck for a good two years). The main reason behind this was my obsession with the game Avalon* (and its predecessor The Resistance*). Both highly recommended, by the way. However, I was also known for enforcing random drinking games at parties and events, given the large number I could pull out of my sleeve. So I thought I’d end 2018 by imparting my wisdom onto you, dear readers. Brace yourselves.

My favourite drinking games tend to focus on “getting to know one another”. I like to use games as a tool for making friends (only slightly sad). Thus, the primary aim should be the people, not the drinking. You can save flip-cup and ring of fire for another time – my collection of games requires participants to be creative and (shock horror) come up with things on their own. You sort of need to get into the flow. The good news is, only interesting people will be able to play these games well, so you’ve instantly weeded out all the people you don’t want to talk to in one easy step. Without further ado, here are My Top 5 Drinking Games (That Require No Preparation):

1. I Have Never (other wise known by the inexplicable and much more ridiculous name “Never Have I Ever” )

Works best for: A group who doesn’t know each other that well
Best time: Late in the evening
Best place: Anywhere

Most of you will know this one. The rules are simple: you take it in turns to say things you’ve never done, and anyone in the circle who HAS done said thing drinks. I must specify that by my rules you are NOT allowed to say things you’ve already done (and then drink to them). This is called bragging. Save it for conversation, where you can talk about how interesting you are and all the countries you’ve visited to your heart’s content.

Something else to note is that this game does not work unless you take it in turns around a circle. Believe me, I’ve tried – whenever the group decides collectively that “anyone can make any suggestion at any time”, the game will simply come to a halt. This actually goes for most of these games, and I’ll explain why: let’s say you don’t feel super confident in your ability to come up with something interesting in a game of “I have never”. In fact, the only thing you can come up with at the moment is “I’ve never owned a pet fish”. If you take it in turns going around the circle, you’ll say your fish idea, and maybe a few people drink. Nobody is really going to notice that your suggestion was slightly bland, because you’re going around the circle and inevitably there are going to be a few bland suggestions here and there. In fact, it might even spark a conversation – perhaps NO ONE has owned a pet fish, which makes everyone go “whoa, dude”, or perhaps someone has a hilarious anecdote about the time they almost swallowed their pet goldfish. Basically, the stakes are low. Now suppose you’ve decided “anyone can make a suggestion at any time”. You now have two things to consider: first, you need to think of a good “I have never”, and second, you have to make the decision as to whether it’s actually good enough to reveal to the group. Your pet fish suggestion now seems much more likely to be judged if you do say it. So you don’t say anything. You leave it to the pros. And inevitably, two or three people have played the game multiple times and say their usual “I have never”s. But this isn’t not encouraging everyone to join. It’s only encouraging people who are confident enough in their suggestions that THEY think they’re funny or interesting enough to say. So trust me, the game dies. Sometimes you need someone to impose some rules in order for everyone to feel included and enjoy the game properly.

2. Would You Rather

Works best for: Any group
Best time: Early in the evening
Best place: Anywhere

This game was introduced to me as “thumbs up, thumbs down” – but “would you rather” is a much easier title to explain, and draws people in more as it’s easier to understand the jist. It is slightly misleading though, as you don’t strictly speaking need to start each sentence with “would you rather”. You basically take it in turns to present everyone with two choices. For example, you could say “cats or dogs?” You then, for example, say that “cats” is “thumbs up” and “dogs” is “thumbs down”. For sake of clarity I suggest the first options always corresponding to “thumbs up”, and the second always corresponding to “thumbs down”. When you’re ready to vote, you stick your hand out with the thumb being halfway between up and down. When everyone is ready to vote, someone counts down, and you do a “thumbs up” 👍 if you prefer cats and a “thumbs down” 👎 if you prefer dogs. Those in the minority were obviously wrong, and so they have to drink. If there’s a tie, everyone drinks. If everyone is in agreement, everyone drinks. Simple.

This game gets fun when people start coming up with ridiculous “would you rather”s, and a long debate ensues post each question. And you get to know the important things about your friends, like whether they’d rather be chased by 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.

3. Most Likely To

Works best for: A group who doesn’t know each other that well
Best time: Early in the evening
Best place: Anywhere

Again, this wasn’t the original title – and again, I changed it to make the rules clear within the title – and again, this title is slightly misleading, as the questions don’t strictly speaking need to start with “who is most likely to…”. The original title I heard this game called was “prejudice” (or the Danish equivalent, given that’s where I first heard it called anything at all), as the idea is to answer questions about the group based purely on the impression you get from people (or the prejudices we have) . You start by making a comment about the group – something like “who is the most immature?” Everyone then has to decide who they think looks like they might be the most immature. When they are ready, they stick a finger in the air. When everyone is ready, count down, and everyone points to the person they think is the most immature. Whoever has the most fingers pointing at them drinks. If it’s a tie, both people drink.

The key thing about this game is to make a pact at the beginning to stay away from “mean” questions that could actually offend. Things like “who is the ugliest” or “who do you hate most” will never lead to a positive experience. That’s not to say you can’t say anything negative! “who is most likely to end up as a high-class escort” or “who would die first in a horror movie” are probably fine – it’s all about not crossing a line.

4. A and B

Works best for: A group who knows each other really well
Best time: Late in the evening
Best place: House party

I have only played this game once, but it was so much fun that it has made it to my list of top party games. Well played, “A and B”. You start by nominating someone who is “it” (similarly to the previous 3 games, with the nominated person going round the circle). This person then either closes their eyes and leaves the room, and the other people in the room assign someone to be “person A” and someone else to be “person B”. It is very important to note that the nominated person can themselves be either A or B. The person then opens their eyes, and thinks of some interaction between A and B. It could be “A has to give B a piggy back ride around the house”, or “A has to lick a letter inside B’s ear and B has to work out what letter it is”. Whatever your suggestion, it’s all about finding the balance between picking something terrible (given you might be one of the people doing it), and not going too tame.

5. Humanity Against Cards

Works best for: A group who knows each other at least a little bit
Best time: Midway through the evening – when everyone is buzzed but not too tired to think of good ones
Best place: Anywhere (as long as you have paper and pens with you)

Why against cards, you ask? THERE ARE NO CARDS. Ditch the game. The problem with Cards Against Humanity is that you’re so bound by the hand you’ve been dealt. The question might have a really funny answer just waiting to be written, but all of the answers on your hand could be terrible. It also stops being funny very quickly. In fact, for me it stopped being funny about 6 years ago.

Humanity Against Cards never stops being funny. The concept is simple: Cards Against Humanity, except you write your own questions and answers. Someone writes a question, or a sentence with some blanks, for example “my favourite thing about this party is _____” Everyone the writes their own answer to this question on a piece of paper and folds it up. The answers are put in a pile, and the question master reads the question aloud, taking it in turns to substitute the anonymous answers in a random order. The key thing here is that if your answer flops, no one will know. The other key thing is that you can make them personal. You can tailor both the questions and answers to the group. You can reference the same jokes again and again. You can include in-jokes only the question master would understand.

There’s also the tactical elements – if two answers are too similar, neither tends to get picked as the funniest. So you want to steer away from anything too obvious. I can safely say this is one of the games I have had the most fun with EVER. It’s also good for getting to know each other, as you get to know each person’s sense of humour quite well. The only thing that can kill this game is people going “but I won’t be able to think of any good ones!” Just try – trust me, it’s not that hard. Free yourself from the barriers you construct every day in your corporate life and unleash the creative spirit…

So there you have it, my top 5 drinking games. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions or any more good suggestions!

Something else I suggest is combining games 1-4 above to create a “super-game”, one where the first round is “I have never”, the second is “would you rather”, and so on. You alternate the game as you go around the circle. The only thing to note is that the number of games and the number of people should be coprime1, or you’ll end up with the same people always getting a “most likely to” style question on their turn (for example).

Milette xoxo

1 Two numbers are coprime if they don’t share any prime divisors. Basically, the number of games shouldn’t divide the number of people in the circle (and vice versa).

*The links to both these games are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase. You are under no obligation to use these links. For more information check out my Affiliate Disclaimer.